‘Irish Paddy’gets the call from Hall

Photo provided by Simmons family — Pat Simmons pitched less than two seasons for the Boston Red Sox, and though his career was cut short, he recorded strikeouts of slugger Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg.

Pat Simmons had a right arm so live he fired strikes past legendary Babe Ruth ... and Lou Gehrig ... and Hank Greenberg — feared power hitters who are all enshrined in Cooperstown.

Simmons’ rare talent enabled him to break into Major League Baseball before his 20th birthday. The Watervliet native, known to some as Irish Paddy Simmons, had the talent at a young age for a lengthy career in pro ball. What he really needed to surive in the big leagues was modern medicine.

Simmons, who was signed to a pro contract at the age of 16, was the third youngest player in the majors when he pitched for the Boston Red Sox, breaking in for the 1928 season. A little more than 12 months later his pro career was finished.

“He threw his arm out,” said Wayne Simmons, nephew of the major-leaguer. “He hurt his arm, which was real sore. He was never able to to get back to what he was because of his injury.”

Simmons is one of 16 players, coaches, managers, umpires and teams who will be inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. The ceremony will take place at the Hilton Hotel on Hoosick Street in Troy.

Simmons competed in pro ball when the major leagues were cut throat. The country had just delved into the Great Depression — employment and pocket change as scarce as a Ty Cobb strikeout.

Baseball was a way to make a living with a steady paycheck. Pro ball stretched from the major leagues to the minors, which flourished in small towns all over the country. From Triple A all the way to Class D ball, baseball offered a way to pay the rent, put food on the table and keep families out of soup kitchens.

The only stipulation for a big-league paycheck was you had to be able to play, and at a high level. The American League had eight teams in 1928, compared to 15 today. Journeyman infielders with a batting average hovering around the Mendoza line did not sit on the end of a big-league bench in 1928. Mop-up pitchers with so-so stuff and ERA’s close to 5.00 found themselves in the D league, not in a major-league bullpen.

And when big leaguers were hurt, they found out baseball was a business. Pro teams did not award multi-year, hundred-thousand dollar contracts to players in the 1920s. Owners didn’t baby their pitchers’ arms like they do today, when players are guaranteed millions of dollars whether they pitch or not. Owners didn’t have to because the minors were jammed-packed with talent just waiting for their chance, whether it came from players retiring or getting hurt.

Simmons pitched in 33 games for the 1928 Red Sox (57-96), who finished in last place and 43½-games behind the World-Champion New York Yankees. Simmons started three games, pitched in 31 overall and finished with an 0-2 record and an 4.04 ERA. His overall career numbers are an 0-2 record with a 3.67 ERA. He pitched in 33 games, finished with 18 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched with three saves. Simmons started three games for the Red Sox.

Simmons had his moments as a rookie, striking out Ruth, Gehrig and Greenberg. He retired Jimmie Foxx. He also pitched against Ty Cobb in 1929, the Georgia Peach’s final season of a 24-year career. Simmons roomed with pitcher Red Ruffing, who started his career with the Red Sox and finished with the Yankees. Ruffing won 273 games in his careeer.

“My uncle was a real modest guy,” said Wayne Simmons, also a Watervliet baseball legend who umpired and managed hundreds of Little League games at Brotherhood Park. “He never really talked about his baseball career.

“He didn’t have kids. All of his nieces and nephews were like his kids. He was great to all of us. But he never bragged or talked about playing baseball.”

One story however, lives in Simmons family lore.

“When my uncle would play in New York, his sister who married into the Teson family, would go to Yankee Stadium to watch him play,” Simmons said.

“They were on the field before the game vs. the Yankees and my uncle Pat introduced my oldest cousin, Bobby Teson, to Babe Ruth. Bobby was 4- or 5-years-old at the time. Bobby looks up and says ‘you’re not Babe Ruth, you son of a bitch. Get your glove and let’s go out on the field and see.’’’

“Babe doubled over in laughter and just about fell down. My uncle got to know Babe Ruth pretty well.”

Simmons pitched in two games in 1929 before pain in his right arm forced him to shut down, end his career. Tommy John surgery was 45 years in the future, and athroscopic shoulder surgery came after that.

Simmons returned to Watervliet, where his baseball playing days started as a child and later as a teen-ager with his brother, Frank, in the D&H League. Games were played in a field next to the tracks and behind what is now the Stewart’s on 19th Street — across the street from what was known decades earlier as the Haymakers grounds. The Troy Trojans, an original member of the National League, played some of their home games where Bob’s Diner is located.

“My dad was a real good player, a third baseman, but he was a little guy,” Wayne Simmons said. “My uncle was about 5-11. He had the size and he could throw.”

To this day it is believed Pat Simmons continues to hold the longest home run in Brotherhood Park history.

The original Brotherhood Park had home plate stationed on the corner of 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, as opposed to today, where home plate sits near the middle of Sixth Avenue.

“Bill Marderosian (another Watervliet baseball and basketball legend whose family continues to own Admiral Cleaners on 19th Street) said Pat Simmons hit a ball from 24th and Sixth and put in in the middle of 25th Street,” Wayne Simmons said. “The ball cleared the field and where the basketball courts are on 25th Street. Bill says it’s the longest home run at Brotherhood Park.”

Simmons later competed for and managed the Waterford Yukes, sponsored by the Cohoes/Waterford American Legion, in the Troy Twilight League. Troy Twilight featured local sandlot legends as well as players who competed in pro ball before coming home to Troy to start other careers. Lansingburgh K of C, Cohoes PNA, Brownies, Bearcats AC and other has rivalries that people in the Collar City looked forward to every summer before the days of TV and televised MLB games.

Simmons was also an accomplished hitter, who posted a .521 average one season. A Troy Record account of one of Simmon’s game-winning home runs stated: “Pat Simmons can still whale the ball. His home run in left-center was a prodigious clout that sailed well over the railroad tracks. The two-run homer broke up a pitchers’ duel that enabled the Yukes to beat the Lansingburgh K of C, 3-0.

Simmons after his baseball career was known as a talented painter. He later opened Simmons Neon Sign shop in Latham. He passed away in Albany at the age of 59. Simmons is interned in a local cemetery close to this childhood home.

He will be inducted Sunday with another member of his family. Mark Teson will enter the Hall of Fame as a member of the Albany Athletics, an Albany Twilight League powerhouse that won the 2012 national Stan Musial world Series.

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About the Author

Kevin Moran is The Record's sports editor. Previously he covered high school sports and Siena College basketball for The Record. Reach the author at kmoran@digitalfirstmedia.com
or follow Kevin on Twitter: @KMoran_Record.